jaymee

Cashmere Cat -  Plz Don't Go (feat. Jhene Aiko) 

What points do you prioritize spending money on? Is it traveling or staying in comfort? Band merch? Or just hitting as many lives (of a certain band or during a specific time frame) as possible? Are you willing to travel as far as the band is performing (like Fukuoka or Hokkaido), or are you content with just hitting as many places around honshu or around your general vicinity? Do you have any favorite cheap travel recommendations for bigger cities?
 
In the past I would travel/stay/eat as cheaply as possible (which meant lots of overnight buses, hostels/manga cafes, and rice balls/instant noodles), and then buy as many tour goods I wanted that I could afford. Now that I'm older, I still travel cheaply, but I tend to use the Seishun18Kippu when I can and drive everywhere else. Shinkansen is a last resort... I've never attended a live outside of honshu, so I've never flown to see a show.
 
I like that I can get off at random stations with the Seishun18Kippu, explore and do a little sightseeing, and then get back on the train and go the rest of the way. Now I only buy tour goods I can use (or of a certain member) and then trade with other girls on Twitter for randoms (cheki/trading cards/stickers/rubber bracelets/etc.) Since I'm getting older and going to lives takes a lot more out of me, I tend to stay at a business hotel within walking distance to the live house (I hate having lots of stuff to carry at lives, worrying about getting a locker, and commuting before/after). What about you guys?
 
Also any tips you'd give newbies possibly going on their first live tour?
 
I guess one of my tips is that you can usually get much cheaper deals on business hotel singles if you book 40-70 days before, when the tour is first announced. Then if you end up deciding not to go or can't get a ticket, just cancel your reservation within the cancelation time frame, since at least 95% of hotels don't require you to pay upfront. That way you're covered no matter what you do. Tickets can usually be gotten last minute, but with hotels it can be much more difficult/way more expensive, especially in places like Osaka where there are fewer hotels compared to other larger cities.
 
 

The one suggestion I thought of now would be to avoid sticking to a schedule of any sort. Something I've learned from running ORZ is that schedules impose pressure and pressure removes the love from the labor. Feeling pressured to keep up with the newest releases or the most popular songs is a fast way to burn out. If anyone decides to go ahead and take a stab at it, do it on your own time when you can or want. Like maybe the "Band Battles" threads that come up every so often.
 
This will take the otherwise underused Lyrics sub forum by storm, so topics there will have a longer half-life and will remain more visible as well. Link to them in your signatures too if you want some free, mod-supported advertisement.

Nice job!
 
Do you ever post translations to their videos on YouTube? I translated a song of theirs once (in reply to a YT comment request) and the band came back and liked my translation, which was pretty cool.
 
I'm excited to see them at Fuji Rock this year. <3 

Fluent or not, sometimes Japanese is so vague it can be hard to decide the intended meaning.
 
I feel like more time consuming than the translation would be regularly finding lyrics thought provoking enough to analyze? Like so many lyricists have pretty mediocre writing skills or purely compose lyrics for shock value when you get right down to it.
 
But I do feel this is an interesting topic, and while translating myself, have often wondered how people would interpret the lyrics/translation.

Fluent or not, sometimes Japanese is so vague it can be hard to decide the intended meaning.
 
I feel like more time consuming than the translation would be regularly finding lyrics thought provoking enough to analyze? Like so many lyricists have pretty mediocre writing skills or purely compose lyrics for shock value when you get right down to it.
 
But I do feel this is an interesting topic, and while translating myself, have often wondered how people would interpret the lyrics/translation.

Nice job!
 
Do you ever post translations to their videos on YouTube? I translated a song of theirs once (in reply to a YT comment request) and the band came back and liked my translation, which was pretty cool.
 
I'm excited to see them at Fuji Rock this year. <3 

It's hard to pick just 9, and these aren't necessarily my favorites now, but I think they've had the most impact on my musical tastes.
 
 

 
Depeche Mode – Violator
I love 80s music (and the 80s in general), and this album is everything I love most about it, especially at the turn of the century when it was released. Even making a top 9 list of just 80s music would be difficult, so I’m just leaving it at this.
 
Tori Amos – From the Choir Girl Hotel
This album got me interested in music as more than just something to listen to in the car/on the radio. Lyrically it’s amazing and covers a wide variety of topics that have stayed, resonated, and continue to resonate with me.  The MV for “Jackie’s Strength” is stunningly beautiful, especially at the end.
 
Ayumi Hamasaki – Duty
This album got me into j-pop. Whether you love or hate her voice, Ayu’s real talent is as a lyricist. Her (older) catalogue has song for just about every mood imaginable. Sadly her recent stuff is somewhat of a stain on what is otherwise a solid career. :/ It was hard to decide whether to include this one or Hikaru Utada – Distance.
 
Malice Mizer – Merveilles
This album is what made me dive head first into visual kei. I had never heard anything like it and the visuals and melodic rock totally reeled me in. Although the album sounds rather dated now, the concert recording for this album never gets old.
 
Kuroyume – Feminism
Ugh I just love everything about Kuroyume during this period. This album really shaped my taste in visual kei. “Love Song” and “Kuchizuke” should be way more popular than they are. Lyrically and thematically this album is solid through and through.
 
Plastic Tree – Träumerei (Toroimerai)
This probably isn’t their most impressive work, but it’s an album I can’t help but keep coming back to, even now. This might be my favorite song off the album, but it changes every now and then:
 
Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke
Purity Ring – Another Eternity
Mitski – Puberty 2
These albums pretty much sum up my current taste in music. I like that a lot of artists now are drawing inspiration from the 80s and meshing it with other genres. I would have included St. Vincent – St. Vincent on this list as well, but unfortunately I feel like it needs to be heard live to truly appreciate what a masterpiece it is.
 

Never thought I'd see Aztec Camera on MH
RESPECT!

What a fun topic to resurrect! 
 

 
C93 - All the Pretty Little Horses MERRY - Moderngarde B-T - Six/Nine Bowie - Station to Station Coil - Moon's Milk (In Four Phases) These New Puritans - Field of Reeds The Mortal - I am Mortal Soft Cell - Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret BTS - Wings / You Never Walk Alone (repackage)  
Pretty much in order, starting from my favorite. If someone was under the illusion I have good taste, there goes that
 

the last two tracks have been translated! hope you all enjoyed them~ ^^

Welcome to the official tutorial to create a Japanese iTunes account!
 
Before you get started, make sure you have all of the following:
✅ An E-mail Address That Is Not Registered To An iTunes Account
Something like Gmail, Yahoo, etc. I would not recommend that you attempt to use your iCloud e-mail address (if you have one).
✅ A Valid Japanese Billing Address
From what I’ve read around, iTunes requires a valid Japanese billing address and they have a system that will check. While it’s probably against Apple’s terms of service, you can use public/business addresses. One user used J-list’s business address, for another account of mine, I used my Tenso mailbox. You could probably even use a Japanese Apple Store location.
✅ A Japanese Phone Number
Requirement is debatable. Some people have claimed that they have used their own (non-Japanese) phone numbers, others have claimed to use a random string of numbers, or a 01 2345 6789 sequence… do whatever works!
✅ Japanese iTunes Gift Card
I highly recommend that you use Japan Codes, because their cards are the cheapest, and they have a wide selection of cards for other stores, such as レコチョク. I also recommend OffGamers.com if you have multiple iTunes store accounts from many different countries. I use OffGamers to get cards for my UK iTunes account.
 
One thing to keep in mind about gift code shops:
Every single one of these shops claim to send out gift codes immediately. Some shops live up to this promise... sometimes. It really depends. Sometimes one shop will send out codes instantly, other times that same shop may make you wait a few days.
 
Now that you have everything on that checklist, let’s get started…
 
Open up iTunes and go to iTunes Store. If you’re logged into an iTunes account already, then log out.
Then, scroll all the way down to the store homepage, and click on the flag in the bottom corner. It will take you to the region select page.
When you're on the region select page, look for the Japanese flag and click it.
Now you’re in the Japanese iTunes store.
 
Some computers may display the store in Japanese.
If that’s the case, then...
続ける = continue
キャンセル = cancel
戻る = back
同意する = agree
 
Click the Sign In button, then click the Create Apple ID button.
You’ll get some Welcome to iTunes screen. Click Continue.
Then there will be a Terms and Conditions page, check the box at the bottom, and click the agree button.
 
Now, let’s enter some basic account information:
 
Here’s where we begin to have some fun! Many people have trouble with this part.

Don’t worry, you actually can skip the Payment Type part with all the credit cards, and just enter your gift card code below that.
Enter the Billing address. I used From Japan’s headquarters in the picture above, and you could probably get away with using it, too.
Click Create Apple ID and buy some Japanese music!
 
Feel free to PM me with any questions or feedback.

Closer by the Chainsmokers sucks. 
F*ck, everything by them just f*cking sucks. I thought their song "Selfie" was just a joke.. turns out, "We ain't never getting older" repeated 848639751937567417^10*485018589 (A number so big, it's in scientific notation) times is not a joke, and it's authentically repetitive, generic trash. 
And the general public eats that sh*t up! I don't see what's so appealing about a bunch of autotuned guys saying the same double negative in an amount so big, it, it has to be in Scientific notation.
Then again, it's pop music. Why am I annoyed if I don't even listen to it? Because IT'S EVERYWHERE. Everywhere I go, I hear that same song. How does it not get old for people? 
Am I just a "goth" person who only listens to trash, or am I the only one with a brain that gets annoyed with monotony? 

I just don't see the point of shipping, specially when it's real life people. Like... Uruha is married and probably Aoi too. It's never gonna happen.
But to each their own,  I'd just like to understand what's the purpose of doing it.
fanfic and fanart are easier to take on and understand imo than this craze of dying for people you ship and doxxing anyone who says otherwise. 

+1 on kyo holding sukekiyo back
 
also...this might be a surprise coming from me but....i miss nagoya kei
WHEN WILL OLD KUROYUME, ROUAGE, LAMIEL AND KEIN COPY BANDS COME UP?? GET TO READING BITCHES DIR EN GREY AND MADETH ARE BORED!!!
 

Omgggg nostalgia! Their shows were always so fun.

I believe what you say sun days
I'll be with wow...

Her face was shining with happy
I'll be with wow...

I would like to be a rockar
I'll be with wow...

Be away rocking in sun days
I'll be with wow...

Stay active and stay young
What self bades street
Stay with me alone to sun
What self bades street

I believe was rocking my dream
Shining what pop sun day
Be awake greenness run a way 

Thanks! The short answer: Quality of life
 
Long answer: I  think it's a great place to visit, but not to live. There are too many people, you generally have to commute 1-2 hours to work and back if you don't want to pay 10-15 man to live in a shoebox, everything is horribly commercialized and expensive, and in general Tokyo people aren't that friendly and/or act really fake compared to people in other parts of Japan. Not to mention  job competition is much higher, so often you get paid less than you would living outside urban areas.  There's a running joke that most expats who move closer to Tokyo for the nightlife generally end up being too poor to ever fully enjoy it. 
 
In comparison, I'd much rather live surrounded by nature instead of having a skyscraper or advertisement in my face everywhere, have a better job/salary, live in a bigger place,and have friendly neighbors/overall great sense of community than live around strangers. I also much prefer driving to work instead of spending 30+ minutes rubbed up against some smelly old salaryman on the train everyday. 
 
And I think contrary to popular belief, there is very little besides lives/special events and clubbing that can't be done anywhere else in Japan. Even if that wasn't the case, it would still be much cheaper (and more convenient) to commute into Tokyo every weekend than live there. 

if i were your teenage self i'd travel to the future and kill you(myself?) for not marrying Kozi ;w;

Welcome to MH
 
Nice, a Visual kei fan since high school, thats great and i'm also a Visual kei fan since my High School days too.
i see, so your a fan of the older style visual kei, thats very quite amazing, but for me, i'm a fan of the newer style visual kei.
 
Enjoy your time.

I used to be a member here at some point but I can't remember how long ago that was tbh. Maybe some people I used to go to lives with back in the day still use this forum and we can get back in touch.
 
I'm an ex-bangya/obangya in my early 30s. I "quit" the scene after most of my fave bands broke up, but since Psycho le Cemu got back together I've been going to a lot of their shows. My favorite v-kei bands besides Psycho le Cemu are Kuroyume, BUCK-TICK, PIERROT, and (older) Plastic Tree/Dir en grey.
 
I got into visual kei through Gackt/Malice Mizer when I was in early high school. Everything was so ~dramatic~ back then, I swore I'd marry Kozi someday, and I remember my BFF and I ugly cried when Malice Mizer announced their hiatus, wondering what the hell we were gonna do with the rest of our lives. In those 15+ years that have passed since, I relocated to Tokyo, became a bangya, got married (obviously not to Kozi, sorry to disappoint my teenage self lolz), and then settled down in the countryside.
 
As for upcoming lives, I'm going to see PLC at Studio Coast this Sunday and PIERROT/Dir en grey's Androgynos two-day live at Yokohama Arena in July.

I used to be a member here at some point but I can't remember how long ago that was tbh. Maybe some people I used to go to lives with back in the day still use this forum and we can get back in touch.
 
I'm an ex-bangya/obangya in my early 30s. I "quit" the scene after most of my fave bands broke up, but since Psycho le Cemu got back together I've been going to a lot of their shows. My favorite v-kei bands besides Psycho le Cemu are Kuroyume, BUCK-TICK, PIERROT, and (older) Plastic Tree/Dir en grey.
 
I got into visual kei through Gackt/Malice Mizer when I was in early high school. Everything was so ~dramatic~ back then, I swore I'd marry Kozi someday, and I remember my BFF and I ugly cried when Malice Mizer announced their hiatus, wondering what the hell we were gonna do with the rest of our lives. In those 15+ years that have passed since, I relocated to Tokyo, became a bangya, got married (obviously not to Kozi, sorry to disappoint my teenage self lolz), and then settled down in the countryside.
 
As for upcoming lives, I'm going to see PLC at Studio Coast this Sunday and PIERROT/Dir en grey's Androgynos two-day live at Yokohama Arena in July.